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MEASUREMENT ISSUES

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Measured self–monitoring (tendency to distort true beliefs in response to social norms) AND racial prejudice as factors that moderate the experimental treatment

Both are measured as multi-item scales to reduce measurement error

Question Wording-self monitoring; Terkildsen(1993)

C. Self-monitoring scale (abridged version): Respondents were asked to indicate if "each statement is true or false as it applies to you:" Scale reliability was .74.

F 1. I can only argue for ideas which I already believe.

T 2. When I am uncertain how to act in social situations I look to the behavior of others.

T 3. I laugh more when I watch a comedy with others than when alone.

F 4. I would not change or modify my opinions in order to please someone else or win favor. T 5. I am not always the person I appear to be.

F 6. My behavior is usually an expression of my true attitudes and beliefs.

F 7. I am not particularly good at making other people like me.

T 8. I can look anyone in the eye and tell a lie.

Scoring indicates responses for high self-monitors. Respondents received a 1 when they agreed with a high self-monitor's response and a 0 when they disagreed.

Question Wording-racial prejudice; Terkildsen(1993):

D. Racial Prejudice (adopted from the General Social Survey): "Please rate black Americans on each scale provided using any number between 1 and 5." A "don't know" option was furnished. The endpoints of the six scales were labeled as follows: Scale reliability was .85.

Rich-Poor

Intelligent-Unintelligent

Hard-working-Lazy

Prone to Violence-Not Prone to Violence

Prefer to be self-supporting-Prefer to live off welfare

Patriotic-Unpatriotic Item four is reverse coded.

Race and Skin-Tone of Political Candidates, vote for governor on 1-4 scale; Terkildsen, 1993

1) “Irish, Italians, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors.”

(2) “Over the past few years blacks have gotten less than they deserve.”

(3) “It's really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites.”

(4) “Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class.”

Data: New York state racial attitudes survey

RDD telephone interview of New York state residents (late 2000 -2001)

760 white, non-Hispanic, non-Asian respondents.

Survey conducted by the Center for Survey Research at Stony Brook University.

College Scholarship Experiment. (similar to a program adopted by some universities to replace race-based affirmative action college admissions).

Respondents were randomly assigned to one of 8 conditions.

“To what extent do you favor providing special college scholarships for _____ students who score in the top fifteen percent of their school class, even if their school’s grades are not in the top fifteen percent nationally?”

Predictions Concerning Racial Resentment : Ideology or Prejudice?

Racial resentment as prejudice: should only predict opposition to policies targeted for black students

Racial resentment as ideology: should promote opposition to programs for all students regardless of race

Or does the meaning of racial resentment vary with left-right (liberal-conservative) ideology?

Racial for liberals (only affects their opposition to programs for black students)

Ideological for conservatives (predicts opposition to program for all students)

Probability of Support for Scholarships by Racial Resentment:

POLITICAL LIBERALS

Poor White

Poor Black

Middle Class White

Middle Class Black

1

.8

.6

Probability of Support

.4

.2

0

0

.5

1

Racial Resentment

Probability of Support for Scholarships by Racial Resentment: Race

-

by

-

Class Conditions

POLITICAL CONSERVATIVES

Poor White

Poor Black

Middle Class White

Middle Class Black

1

.8

.6

Probability of Support

.4

.2

0

0

.5

1

Racial Resentment

III. CROSS-NATIONAL SURVEYS:methods to develop comparable questions

1. Sequential:

Developed in one context and then exported to another; survey simply translated without adaptation for another context

Examples: Eurobaromoeter; usually questions developed in French and English first, and then these questions are translated for other countries

Does not allow for pre-testing in other languages. Other countries are stuck with what ahs been developed initially.

Example of problems: ISSP problems: could not ask Japanese about whether their earnings were ”just” or “fair” because this is inappropriate in the Japanese context.

Harkness: all items should be carefully exported.

It may be easier to discard “bad” items in long psychological batteries because there are others. It may be more difficult in social science questionnaires in which a concept is measured by only one or two items.

2. Parallel Development:

Combine expertise from many countries and develop the survey in a single language

e.g., ESS which is written and developed in English first; ISSP also is developed by a multicultural group and everyone votes on the final questionnaire

Survey is then subject to multicultural testing before it is finalized

Advance translation occurs by translating some questions before the questionnaire is completed in order to identify problems. Such translations do not have to be perfect but are designed to bring up obvious problems.

Overall, this approach is better than sequential but is time consuming and involves complex coordination

3. Simultaneous:

Decentering: a draft questionnaire is produced in one language and the final version is produced in two. In the decentering phase specific cultural references are also removed.

Typically applied when studying only 2 cultures; ensures that questions are truly comparable.

This technique has been used on existing instruments.

But it my create very bland items

An alternative is to have some core common questions and some country specific; but then these are difficult to compare